Hiroshima Mayor Calls On Japanese Gov't To Join Treaty On Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on Thursday on the Japanese government to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) during his speech at the ceremony of commemorating the 75th anniversary of the city's nuclear bombing.

The ceremony started in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and included a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. (23:15 on Wednesday GMT), the exact time of the nuclear explosion over the city on August 6, 1945.

"We want the Japanese government to listen to the feelings of the bombing's survivors and join the treaty [TPNW]," Matsui said in his speech.

Representatives of 80 countries are taking part in the ceremony, but the number of participants is much lower than in previous years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On August 6, 1945, the US Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing up to 146,000 people, and three days later dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki killing up to 80,000 people. The attacks on the two Japanese cities have been the only instances of the use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.